Tag: garland home insurance

Hail’s Continued Impact on Texas Home Insurance

Summer’s here and while our hail storms are probably behind us, its impact continues to unfold for homeowners in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex and San Antonio. Home insurance companies paid an unprecedented amount in claims and tallied up losses from the storms. The impact goes beyond insurance companies balance sheets, it’s being felt by homeowners and buyers in both north and central Texas as insurance companies consider their options. The responses include moratoriums, increased deductibles, increased rates, and coverage shifts.

Read More »

Home Insurance for Remodels and Fixer Uppers

You’ve found your new home. It has great bones, hasn’t been updated, and you can make it into something special! All it needs is a little, or maybe a lot, of remodeling love to go with your vision of how to bring it up to date and make it uniquely yours. If you’re planning something like this, don’t let home insurance derail your vision.

Read More »

Duplexes and Home Insurance

A homeowner called me last week to discuss home insurance on her Dallas area duplex. It was coming up for renewal and she wanted to confirm she was not over paying for her home insurance. I was delighted to review her current rate and advise her on her coverage. Based on that conversation, let’s review insurance considerations for a duplex.

Read More »

Home Insurance and Federal Pacific Electric Panels

I reviewed Sheri’s and my home insurance in March. It had gone up again and we’d been with the same company for several years, so it was time. I was very pleased with the rates I found with a couple of my other carriers and decided to call the underwriter to discuss our home since it was built in the mid 1950’s. She told me it would require an interior inspection, in addition to the exterior inspection. I was curious what they’d review and the criteria they’d use to determine whether to write my home insurance or cancel it. What I found out caused me to go to the next option on my list!

Read More »

Home Insurance and Roof Depreciation Schedules

I sat in a meeting with one of our carriers last week and heard an interesting statistic. On average, insurance companies who wrote Texas home policies in 2016 paid $1.30 out in storm related claims last year for every $1.00 of premium they received. That doesn’t include non-storm related claims such as fire, theft, water damage, etc. The issue facing all home insurance companies is how to remain profitable without raising rates astronomically. One method carriers are examining is roof depreciation schedules.

Read More »

How Recent Hail and Tornados Impact Home Insurance

2015 ended with a bang as tornados swept across north Texas damaging or destroying over 1,000 homes and damaging vehicles and commercial properties. Spring of 2016 was not to be outdone either. Last March and April, north Texas was struck by 3 hail storms and San Antonio suffered the worst hail storm in Texas history. The four hail storms combined claims totaled about $1.3 billion in damages to cars, homes, and businesses. Let’s examine how home insurance is being impacted this year.

Read More »

Home Insurance Issues When a Family Member Dies

A friend of mine called me last week with one of the most unusual questions I’ve ever been asked as an insurance advisor. It turns out her father passed away before Christmas and she wanted to know how she and her siblings should handle the home and car insurance on their dad’s home and vehicles. The answer depends on many factors.

Read More »

Home Insurance Claims After the Storm

This past Saturday was a warm day, shorts and t-shirt weather for most of the day. The weather report called for a cool front to move in that afternoon and evening. It did and the collision of the cool front with the warm air moving up from the Gulf set off a chain of thunderstorms and up to 9 reported tornadoes that ranged from Waxahachie, through Garland, Rowlett, and past Lake Lavon in Collin County. The extent of damage wasn’t known until Sunday.

Read More »

Home Insurance Inspections

I received an email from one of my insurance company’s underwriters. They wanted to clarify one thing that turned up in the inspection of a home I’d recently written a policy with them for one of my clients. The item the underwriter wanted to confirm was the type of cooling system the home used to see if it met their guidelines. If it did, the policy would remain in force, however, if it didn’t, the policy would have to be cancelled.

Read More »

Hurricane Preparation for 2015

The 2015 hurricane season has started. It runs from June 1 through the end of November. Accuweather is forecasting another below normal year for hurricanes. They predict 8 tropical storms, 4 hurricanes, 1 major hurricane, and 2 to 3 that will make landfall. This year’s number is slightly lower than last year’s predictions. Like last year, the reason for the below normal storms predicted is attributed to El Nino wind patterns that tilt the spinning air which inhibits the formation of storms, as well as drier than normal air and cooler water temperatures in the Atlantic.

Read More »